After my best friend’s devastating jumping accident, I realize the importance of sticking together.

Anne and Wyatt

I grew up in the era of the land line, when cell phones were giant bags that worked only when hooked to cigarette lighters. During my teens, I’d rush home from school, throw on my boots, saddle up a horse and take off. I’d be gone for hours, covering miles and miles of Missouri farm and forest land, jumping creeks, sprinting up and down hills, careening around corners at top speed.

Almost never did I tell a family member where I was going or when I’d be back. And I certainly wasn’t carrying any sort of device that could help me contact someone if need arose.

Now, as a mom, I shudder to think …   I would never let my kids take off anywhere without a buddy and a cell phone!

I was lucky, though. I never needed a “phone a friend” option. (Although, one time my barrel horse dumped me about two miles from home. By the time I walked back to the barn, he was waiting for me in his stall.)

This weekend got me thinking extra hard about the safety in numbers issue.

My best friend, a longtime AQHA member and AQHA World Championship Show top-10 finisher Anne Marie Bennett of Kansas City, Missouri, suffered a terrible injury at the Oklahoma City Spring Show while aboard her up-and-coming hunter horse Art N Design.

Anne tearfully described the accident to me:

“We were warming up for our first hunter hack class and had jumped down the line once,” Anne recalls.

“Wyatt” is new to jumping and fairly green to horse shows in general, so Anne was being extra cautious in the crowded warmup pen.

“My trainer wanted me to try it one more time,” she continues. “I was about three strides behind the girl in front of me. When I landed off the second jump, I saw her horse fall down to his knees and then flip to his side. I was still releasing over the jump, and I wasn’t prepared for Wyatt to spook and duck to avoid the wreck.”

Anne was thrown from her horse and landed with a loud “crack.”

She was rattled and hurting, but conscious, and she could see the chaos going on around her. The rider who’d fallen in front of her was limping away. The rider behind her had also been thrown and trampled and was on the ground suffering from broken ribs and a punctured lung.

“Then my back seized up, and my face started dripping sweat.”

Thank God for friends and family. Anne’s brother, Michael, who attends Oklahoma State University about an hour from the show, happened to be visiting. He drove Anne to the hospital, while Anne’s horse show friends took care of Wyatt and her other animals.

“I cannot imagine if I were at a show where I didn’t know anyone,” Anne says. “All my horse-show friends immediately took care of my horse, unbraided him, fed him, watered him and took care of my dogs.”

Anne is undergoing surgery today for a burst Lumbar 1 and faces a long road to recovery. But she finds peace in knowing she has friends and family to help her through it and make sure her animals are cared for.

“After this experience, I’m going to pick my showing trips more carefully,” Anne says. “I’m going to make sure I know a few people at each show so we can look out for each other.”

Her advice to other horse enthusiasts: “Always let your family know where you’re going, and check in with your loved ones. Everyone has a busy life, but when things like this happen, it all comes to a screeching halt.”

We live in a day and age where we all need to stay connected, in every way possible.

So, at the very least, please embrace technology and — whether you’re hitting the fields behind your house or heading cross country for a horse show –  keep your phone close. And keep your friends even closer.

Anne, I wish you the speediest recovery, and I can’t wait to see you back on a horse.

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Jody Reynolds
AQHA Director of Online and Interactive Communications